On Wednesday the 24th of April, OTTERS Project held an engaging online workshop on the possibilities of monitoring riparian biodiversity with RiVe, a methodology recently developed in Italy by our colleague Bruna Gumiero (University of Bologna/CSGI), alongside an IT expert from the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) Italy who developed the dataset repository.
The workshop was structured in an effort to present the methodology to our participants and gather their opinions on the methodology itself and on the feasibility of using RiVe outside of Italy, more specifically in other European countries.
After a brief introduction of the OTTERS project from Joe Jubb (ECSA), and an overview of societal perception and levels of knowledge on riparian zones by Leonardo Veronesi (ECSA), Bruna presented the methodology.
The RiVe methodology has three main steps (training, data collection, data analysis and RiVe index), and trains participants to identify 12 types of riparian vegetation.
The objectives of the methodology are to:
- Raise awareness within local communities about the ecological significance of riparian forest.
- Increase knowledge on Riparian Forest quality
- Integrate remote sensing with RiVe in Monitoring programmes
Data and observations can be logged directly using a smartphone or computer on the RiVe website.
Following the presentation were questions and discussion, with some participants sharing their experience of testing the methodology in different countries, including Peggy Zinke in Norway, Barbara Stammel in Germany, and Daniel Bruno in Spain.
We were very pleased with the turnout of the workshop, the active participation of the attendees and the exchange that took place. The findings of the workshop will be integrated into the OTTERS riparian whitepaper, the draft version of which is currently on Zenodo, in which the contributors that would like to will figure as co-authors.
Thank you again to all our participants and to our expert for their participation. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to present the methodology and think about its implementation!
